


The Body Electric

by inspirationandroid



Category: Game Grumps, Ninja Sex Party - Fandom, TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, F/M, Lounge AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-06 17:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12215835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inspirationandroid/pseuds/inspirationandroid
Summary: The first time it happened, Dan hadn’t even noticed anything until Arin asked him if he was okay.“You were in the middle of a sentence and then you just… stopped? You just stood there looking into space for like half a minute. Are you okay, dude? You looked like you reset or something.”The year is 3015 and Dan the Android is having problems with his power source. Dr. Brian Wecht offers to help fix his favorite robotic lounge singer and it all goes downhill from there.





	1. Mr. Roboto

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea, and I went with it. The song for this chapter is "Mr. Roboto" by Styx.

The first time it happened, Dan hadn’t even noticed anything until Arin asked him if he was okay.

“You were in the middle of a sentence and then you just… stopped? You just stood there looking into space for like half a minute. Are you okay, dude? You looked like you reset or something,” Arin looked Dan over with a frown, but continued wiping down the bar countertop. Normally, Barry was the one manning the counter, but he’d caught some nasty virus the day before and Arin couldn’t find a replacement bartender in time for opening.

The Grump Space was an eccentric little lounge bar located in a moderately cozy corner of Neo Los Angeles. The low mood lighting and high energy entertainment on the main stage created a friendly and fun atmosphere for those who wanted a drink, but were intimidated by other, more traditional venues. The Space was relatively new, having opened only a few years prior in 3012, and was owned by Arin. Dan had found a comfy little career at the Space when he and Arin were introduced through a mutual friend. In his three years working there, Dan had quickly grown to love his work family at the Space.

“Did I..? I didn’t feel anything. I’m not scheduled for any updates or anything. I shouldn’t be resetting… What were we talking about?” Dan tried to think back to what he had been saying earlier, but found himself unable to recall even starting this conversation with Arin.

Arin’s frown remained, “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I… Fuck, I remember coming in the Space… I talked to Suzy for a bit… and then nothing- what the hell?” as a Droid, Dan’s memory was better than most humans. His CPU deleted old, unused memories to keep space free for new memories and information, but he’d never had a memory lapse like this before. Arin’s eyes widened.

“That was like an hour ago, Dan. We’re about to open. Are you okay?”

Dan paused to really consider the question. He felt fine. He looked down to his hand and flexed his fingers; they worked like normal. He was just missing about an hour of short term memory.

“I think so, man. I’m good to do the show tonight.”

“That’s not really what I asked.”

“I’m fine, Arin. Really. I’ll tell you if I start feeling weird, okay?”

Arin gives Dan one final look over before he nods.

“Alright.”

That was a month ago.


	2. Nightcall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is named after "Nightcall" by Kavinsky.

Okay, so the whole “unscheduled resetting” thing turns out to be a bit more troublesome than Dan had originally anticipated. It’s happening _a lot_ , with increasing frequency and he thinks he’s lost at least 4 hours worth of memory this week and it’s only Wednesday. It’s disorienting. His friends are worried, and Arin even wants him to take time off until Dan’s seen a mechanic. He’s made an appointment with his usual mechanic, but she can’t see him until the end of next week and there’s _no way_ Dan’s taking that much time off. He’d go mad, and he already feels like he’s halfway there. He loves his roommate, but Barry is driving him up the wall with all the hovering he’s been doing recently.

“I mean, I think Arin’s right, you should take some time off. You don’t know what’s triggering your resets and like… what if you’re doing something important when it happens?” Barry’s driving them to work, of course, because neither of them trust Dan to get them anywhere safely while he’s still malfunctioning. Dan stays silent for a moment, looks out the window, and watches Neo LA nightlife woosh past them at 70mph.

Oh God, _malfunctioning_ , what if there’s something wrong with Dan that can’t be fixed? He’s been trying to keep positive, hoping that it’s just a low level virus, like maybe he caught what Barry had last month but it’s affecting Dan differently. That can happen, right?

At this point, he sincerely doubts it. He’s browsed the internet for possible answers and the most common solution he’s found is that there’s probably something wrong with his battery, which is a scary thought because _holy shit_ to have to buy a new battery and have it installed wouldn’t quite break his bank, but would come incredibly close to it. Arin does his best to pay them well, but the year is new and he hasn’t spent enough for his insurance copay to kick in yet.

“Important like what? No one’s letting me do anything but shows at the Space now. I’m getting antsy, and being stuck at home won’t help,” Dan closes his eyes, sighs, and opens them again. He wants to be useful, and he gets it, he’s becoming a liability, but that doesn’t make his anxious fingers twitch any less.

“...What if you go down on stage?” Barry quirks an eyebrow, but keeps his eyes on the road.

“Shit, Barry, why’d you speak that into the ether? Now it’s gonna happen,” Dan chuckles nervously. He’s had the thought multiple times. He takes the on stage shows at the Space seriously. It’s his dream job, he loves it, and he doesn’t want anything to fuck up his dream, but now it’s also one of the few things that takes his mind off of his health.

“Sorry, I just… Y’know, everyone’s worried about you,” Barry’s frowning and Dan hates to see the people he cares about even mildly upset. He makes up his mind, then and there.

“...I’ll do the show tonight, and then I’ll talk to Arin about maybe doing some work in the back. Something less… labor intensive- put the shows on hold until I’m better,” it sounds like a decent compromise to Dan. Barry glances at Dan as he pulls into their usual parking spot in the front of the Grump Space. It’s quiet as they both unbuckle their seatbelts and exit the vehicle. When they’re both out, Barry finally looks Dan in the eye over the roof of the car.

“Alright… I… Sorry, I know I’m like… mothering you and probably being annoying.”

“It’s okay, man. I get it... Robo-bros gotta stick together, right?” Dan gives Barry a soft smile that Barry returns and any tense emotions between the both of them are suddenly gone.

“Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cool kids leave comments and kudos. Thank you for reading <3


	3. Damaged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you by "Damaged" by Danity Kane and "The Hit" by TWRP.

Backstage before the night’s show is just as busy as usual. Meouch and Phobos are doing some last minute guitar tuning. Doctor Sung is doing his usual pre-show stretches and throws in a couple practice high kicks for good measure. And Havve… well, Dan isn’t quite sure exactly what Havve is doing. It looks like he’s just sitting, eyes glowing bright red. Maybe he’s meditating..? Actually, Dan’s not sure if murder-bots are capable of meditation, and frankly, it would be rude to ask.

...Anyways, Dan’s finished his vocal warm ups, had a warm cup of tea, and is standing as still he can while Holly and Suzy put the last little finishing touches on him. Suzy takes a step back and looks at her makeup job. It’s flawless, as usual, despite Dan’s penchant for squirming away from the scarier looking makeup tools. He doesn’t _care_ if the eyelash curler won’t hurt him, it still looks like a medieval torture device.

“Looking good, Dan,” Suzy smiles up at him, and Dan grins back. He’s got a good feeling about tonight’s show and is just about ready to sprint on stage. If it’s going to be his last show for a while, he wants to go out with a bang and lots of sequins.

“Thank you, Scuze,” Dan chimes, and he tilts his chin up a bit as Holly straightens his cape and gives him a final glance over. She nods to herself, content with what she sees, and crosses her arms.

“You’re good to go, be careful up there,” Holly flashes him a smile, but it’s a little watery and doesn’t reach her eyes. Dan just can’t seem to escape worried Droids today, but his mind is in the zone, ready to perform, so he’ll have to address it later.

“I will, don’t worry, I gotta talk to Arin about it but, uh… this is probably gonna be my last show for a bit. I’m ready to rock it!” Dan gives her a blinding smile and bounces on the heels of his feet, and that’s enough to make both ladies chuckle at his stronger than usual excitement. Then, Arin’s voice rings through the PA system and announces the band in a smooth, if slightly exaggerated, bass-tone. The members of TWRP begin to walk towards the stage and Dan moves to follow after them.

“Go get em, tiger!”

“Break a leg!”

***

The vibrations of the booming bassline of the intro to “No Pants Dance” travels up the mic stand that Dan has a single hand wrapped around. His hips sway to the beat and he takes a look out at the crowd. The spotlights make it impossible to see the lounge patrons in the back, so Dan lets his eyes look over the people closer to the stage. He sees a few familiar faces, regular customers that he sees somewhat often. As he’s scanning the crowd, he makes eye contact with a man, probably only a little older than him. Dan thinks he’s handsome with his salt and pepper hair, piercing blue eyes, the most dad-like Hawaiian shirt that Dan has ever laid eyes on. He’s seen the stranger-but-not-quite-stranger more times than he cares to count, and has grown especially fond of his presence in the audience.

So Dan winks at him, takes the mic off of the mic stand, and starts to sing...

 

The show is going _amazingly_. The crowd is responsive, energetic, particularly fond of the band’s rendition of “You Spin Me Round,” and they’re currently ending things with “The Hit.”

Dan is on cloud nine. He’s confident, feeling the groove, enjoying himself and the crowd and the band. The whole vibe is just _perfect_.

He’s finishing the third verse of the song and then he feels it- some kind of hiccup-y feeling in his chest. It’s grown dreadfully familiar over the past few weeks, but he only has one second to feel it before-

The vibrations of the kickin’ guitar solo in “The Hit” travels up the mic stand that Dan has a single hand wrapped around. When did he get on the stage? _What the fuck?_ Dan thinks to himself. He glances down at the faces in the crowd in front of him and he sees a hard confusion on almost every face his eyes scan over. And then the horrific realization hits him harder than a mack truck going 80 on the freeway.

_Oh, please, no…_

Of all the times he had to reset… _In the middle of a song..._

Dan’s mind goes into auto-pilot, he recognizes that the guitar solo has just ended. Sung is singing. Then he plays a couple of whimsical sounding notes on the keyboard, the drums kick up, and Dan _just barely_ makes his queue.

_“Girl! Let me be your man,_  
Take my hand, babe,  
Won’t you understand,  
Yes, we can,  
Girl! How’d you get so fine,  
Lose my mind,  
Babe! Let’s have a good time,  
Yeah, tonight!  
Let’s have a good tiiiiime,  
Yeah, tonight!” 

The song ends and the crowd is cheering, and Dan hears a couple wolf-whistles come from the back. He figures he hasn’t _completely ruined_ the show with his hubris and gives the crowd a smile that he knows just _screams_ “I’m nervous and confused, but thank you anyways!” The band takes in the applause for a moment, they throw some waves to the crowd, and they all begin to vacate the stage. As Dan speedwalks off the stage, he spares one last glance out to the crowd. He unintentionally makes eye contact with the handsome, older guy in the crowd that he’s grown used to seeing at the shows.

The man is frowning, staring lasers into him with icy blue eyes, and Dan feels a hot, uncomfortable twist in his gut as he turns back around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading <3


End file.
